By
Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green. August 18, 2020

So as we fully understand what I am writing about here, we must first understand what decency means. What is the state or quality of being decent?

The
Cambridge English Dictionary describes decency as; behaviour that is
good, moral, and acceptable in society.

The
Oxford English Dictionary describes decency as; behaviour that
conforms to accepted standards of morality or respectability.

Both so
similar, not unlike my description, and probably what any decent
person reading this would believe and understand as decency.

I,
therefore, decided to look at indecency and first looked again at the
Cambridge Dictionary. They describe it as morally offensive
behaviour. Not much of a description really. So I looked at the
synonyms and related words that went along with that description. It
turned out to be a multitude of words, many we will recognise as
attributable to the ULP regime currently ruling Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines. Many others and I have used most of these words in the
past when writing about Ralph Gonsalves or his actions.

Abhorrent,
amoral, bad, base, rotten to the core, cankered, criminal, dastardly,
debauched, decadent, degenerate, demonic, depraved, devilish,
diabolical, disgraceful, dissipated, dissolute, enormity, evildoer,
flagitious, godless, grotesque, grotesquely, heinous, immoral,
impure, indecent, inglorious, malevolent, malignant, monstrous, no
good, obscene, outrageous, psychopathic, rotten, satanic, scandalous,
scummy, seamy, seedy, shocking, sinful, sleazy, sordid, squalid,
subhuman, tawdry, force of evil, unconscionable, unethical,
unprincipled, unsavoury, unscrupulous, vile, villainous, wicked.

Ralph
Gonsalves has degraded the norms of Vincentian political civility so
profoundly, for so long, that it is easy to become numb to each
offence.

Is there
no bottom for this prime minister? That question has long since
answered itself, but here is another: Is there no bottom for the ULP?
Where is the outrage from the parliamentary colleagues? Where is the
simple, crucial declaration from Gonsalves own side of the aisle that
his behaviour is unacceptable, where exactly is the decency from
within the party, are they all indecent? There is nothing
left-versus-right about this; it is all very clearly right versus
wrong.

Yet what
all the nasty episodes have in common — apart from indicating a
textbook personality disorder — is the roar of silence from most
ULP supporters in response. Gonsalves treats the Unity Labour Party
as if he owns it lock-stock and barrel; he manages the country in the
same way. He has championed all policy priorities, makes speeches and
declarations for every ministry, and that is reason enough for the
once-proud promoters of “family values” to countenance behaviour
from the bully pulpit that none of them would tolerate at their
dinner tables.

Every
time Ralph Gonsalves sullies the national discourse, he makes the
ULP’s already-contentious politics a little meaner. To confront
that behaviour does not require abandoning one’s partisan
principles. It just requires acknowledging higher ones.

Never
one parliamentary ULP member has ever said publicly that Gonsalves
should apologise for some of his behaviours. Most have remained
silent. At the same time, others have shown support which in itself
is an indecent failure and speaks volumes about the state of the ULP
today.

During
this time of a pandemic, the Vincentian nation needs constituency
leaders who bring us together; Ralph Gonsalves continues to divide
SVG with actions that defy both logic and decency. For a long time
now some ULP ministers have called for violence to be used against
NDP supporters, talking of setting the ULP dogs on them. It happened
in Kingstown at the House of Representatives, parliament; the NDP
opposition leaders were thrown out of parliament by police officers,
some thrown down the stairs, resulting in one sustaining serious back
injuries. Not one ULP parliamentarian had the decency to speak out
about that. Could that of happened without the approval or a nod from
Gonsalves, remember he thinks he owns SVG, so I suppose that includes
the police and parliament.

On the
part of the police, this was an act of gross indecency, on the part
of every ULP member of parliament, including Gonsalves, it was even
worse. Because as well as being an act of gross indecency is was
also; abhorrent, amoral, bad, base, rotten to the core, cankered,
criminal, dastardly, debauched, decadent, degenerate, demonic,
depraved, devilish, diabolical, disgraceful, dissipated, dissolute,
evil, flagitious, godless, grotesque, heinous, immoral, impure,
indecent, inglorious, malevolent, malignant, monstrous, no good,
obscene, outrageous, psychopathic, rotten, satanic, scandalous,
scummy, seamy, seedy, shocking, sinful, sleazy, sordid, squalid,
subhuman, tawdry, unconscionable, unethical, unprincipled, unsavoury,
unscrupulous, vile, villainous, wicked.

Let us
be clear — there was nothing holy about tossing protesting NDP MP’s
and Senators down the stairs. On this day, parliament was opened with
a prayer but closed with a sin. The act on that day was indecent and
worse than that un-Christian. Gonsalves, the prime minister, can do a
Bible-waving photo op whenever he can, but not on this day. This was
more in the vein of a day of Obeah, all decent Vincentians of good
conscience should have spoken out against what happened in parliament
to the NDP. Which may be seen by some of those who were struck dumb
and stayed silent as Ralph Gonsalves bullying, an assault on our
constitutional democracy, and the continuing destruction of both our
democratic institutions and our shared sense of common decency.”

But be fearful because Karma will take its course, always does, and always will.

END

DISCLAMER: The opinion, belief and viewpoint expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinion, belief and viewpoint of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com or official policies of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com